By Judy Reiss
For those of you who follow this column, please note that I appear to be back! Not only am I back, I couldn’t be much better! And of course, since I have been away, I have watched just about everything! And here is what I have learned that is news not only interesting it is important for all of us to know and remember.

Do you know how lucky we all are to have such excellent health care available?

Think about it, with the click of your phone, you can get immediate help, and that can include a trip to the emergency room or whatever help you might decide you need or want. And once you or your doctor decides what is necessary for you, you are almost immediately safe and sound. Think about it, can you imagine what it must be like to have no help with your decision making with your health care. Forget about the horrendous conditions in the inner city or other peculiar options that may or not be available, poor health care is still poor regardless of how it is sold to you!

For me the most important thing about my own personal health care is, of course, the many options available to us here in Vermont. But it is also extremely important to me to have the wonderful nurses and caregivers who take care of you, body and soul every single minute of every day! These men and women are not only trained to care for you, they are an amazing group of people who not only love their jobs, they are the people who stand between you and the chaos of understanding your health care.

A hospital is not only important, it is, hopefully, the standard bearer for your daily life. But, and now is the most important BUT for the day! I cannot tell you how extremely important the following step in your health care is! And that is a place to go and rehabilitate yourself and prepare yourself to be strong enough to go home and resume your life as it was before your illness. This is an amazing group of people, which includes nurses and other health care providers. For me the most amazing facility is right in our backyard, and it is the Mayo Rehabilitation Facility right in our own Northfield!

Now that I have made such an important decision, let me tell you why I think so! Well, first and foremost it is as clean as a whistle and smells just terrific! There’s nothing I hate more than going to a facility that smells bad, and I want to tell you that Mayo smells clean and neat and for me that is probably one of the most important things and is the first thing you recognize when you go inside their establishment. That and the wonderful, kind staff make all the difference in the world!

I just love to tell you a personal story about how I managed to do something so dumb and how Mayo and their staff not only saved my life but gave me the opportunity to share such an embarrassment with you all!

After 77 years I hurt myself in such a way that showed everyone what a clod I really am! And here is my pathetic story, because I wasn’t paying attention, I slipped and fell off the toilet! And landed flat on my face! Fortunately I didn’t break anything, which included teeth or nose, but I did get a huge lump on my forehead. When my son first saw my wound, he said that he was thrilled to actually see his first unicorn horn! And now it has been about four weeks and my “horn” has gotten smaller. Not small, mind you, but smaller!

And the staff at Mayo not only helped me in my recuperation process with my “horn”, they also helped to make sure all the other problems that managed to follow me through the next month of strange illnesses were taken care of. And I truly believe that without their kindness and staff, I probably would not be doing as well as I am right now!

You know I have some advice for those of you who are beginning to wend yours (which is crap) through your “Golden Years”! Take your time and try to enjoy every minute that you can! And don’t forget to take care of yourself because if you don’t, you will regret it. And, of course long before you actually need a good staff and health care, be sure you find the facility that you want and need. If you do, you will find your golden years more enjoyable and actually learn how to have a longer happier life! And just maybe you will have some ice cream at the weekly ice cream social at the Mayo and you can probably guess who will join you!